New Jersey’s Democrat Governor Phil Murphy got rich as a top executive for Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street Bank. So did former NJ Democrat Governor Jon Corzine. So did Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury for Democratic President Bill Clinton during the US bailout of the Mexican government 1995. So did Henry “Hank” Paulson who was Secretary of the Treasury for Republican President George Bush 2 during the Wall Street bailouts of 2008. So did Steve Mnuchin, President Trump’s current Secretary of the Treasury.
Like Godfather character Hyman Roth, Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs “always made money for its partners”. The key to its success was using its money and connections to influence politicians , shape public opinion, and manipulate elections. All partners shared in the large profits of the sweetheart, insider deals this produce.
Between 1974 and 2006, Henry “Hank Paulson” brokered lucrative deals for Goldman Sachs by persuading both Republican and Democratic Presidents to give our latest technology and sweetheart trade deals to Communist China. From 1984 to 1999, Jon Corzine was also active in greatly expanding Goldman Sachs deals with Communist China in Asia.
Goldman Sachs also made large profits from many investments that at first appeared risky, if not reckless. However, most of those investments turned out to be safe bets. That is because Goldman Sachs routinely used its political influence to also make money on failed investments by getting bailed out by governments they influenced. In 1995, Goldman Sachs persuaded Democratic President Bill Clinton to use our Federal Reserve bail out its bad investments in Mexico. At that time, former Goldman Sachs CEO, Robert Rubin was Secretary of the Treasury. Between 1991 and 2001, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks made a billion dollars in commissions making loans which put the government of Argentina hopelessly in debt. Goldman Sachs secured those loans by “monetizing” the most valuable public owned assets in the country. This enormous debt, and the “rent” people in Argentina had to pay for their own assets collapsed the economy in 2001. In 2001, Goldman Sachs did to Greece what it did to Argentina. In early 2008, Jon Corzine as Governor tried to do the same thing in New Jersey. He pushed a scheme borrow billions of dollars by mortgaging or “monetizing” our toll roads. The money would be paid back with years of toll hikes. In 2008, Hank Paulson as Secretary of the Treasury for President George Bush2 put together a trillion dollar bailout package for Wall Street banks that included Goldman Sachs.
Phil Murphy amassed a fortune of $300 million working 23 years for Goldman Sachs. His career took off between 1993 and 1997 when he worked with the German government selling government assets of the old Communist regime to private businesses. He made even more money when he worked the next two year for Goldman Sachs in China.
After getting rich at Goldman Sachs, Phil Murphy then went into New Jersey politics. This 2017 post in Savejersey.com explains how he did it.
The anatomy of Phil Murphy’s purchased Democrat nomination
Originally posted on September 11, 2017 by Matt Rooney
Click here for Original Post on Savejersey.com.
Phil Murphy remains the favorite to succeed Chris Christie in January, Save Jerseyans. The Democrat statewide candidate usually is. Let’s see how far he’s out in front after Labor Day.
How he got the Democrat nomination is therefore a lot more interesting than anything he does — or fails to do — between now and November. In fact, if everyone in New Jersey understood the ‘how’ of Phil Murphy’s political ascent? I firmly believe Kim Guadagno’s job would be a lot easier over the next several weeks.
The easy answer?
He bought it. Corzine-style, but whereas Corzine did it the old fashioned way (donating HUGE sums of cash to Democrat county organizations who decide the nomination), Murphy spread the cash around through various front organizations over the course of years.
Murphy, as ambassador, with Chancellor Merkel
Murphy’s no dummy. He’s a Harvard and Wharton pedigree; his wealth and influence derived from a 23-year career at Goldman Sachs landed him a job as DNC Finance Chairman back during the late 2000s. The future Democrat gubernatorial candidate built a large Rolodex, one which he parlayed into a plum job as America’s ambassador to Germany during the Obama Administration. You don’t get an ambassadorship unless you’ve given and/raised a LOT of money for the winning team (ask Caroline Kennedy and the Japanese). He had a stormy tenure overseas but that’s a story for another post.
Murphy didn’t return to the states in August 2013 on the eve of Chris Christie’s reelection and sit on his hands.
He went to work making sure the right people knew he was serious about stepping out of the backroom finance environment onto the ballot, diving back into Murphy Endeavors LLC, his business management consultancy firm based in Red Bank, New Jersey, and donating BIG money to New Jersey Democrat-oriented organizations and campaigns along with his wife, Tammy.
How much? $17,317,450.21 (to date) since 2001 per New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), so that doesn’t include any federal contributions; his activist-with-a-wallet activities accelerated considerably since returning from Germany in 2013.
But the direct donations to political causes and candidates tells only PART of the story.
Murphy launched a 501(c)(4) organization called ‘New Start New Jersey’ back around the same time which was, in his own words, “focused completely and utterly on strengthening New Jersey’s middle class, and expanding it.” He dumped money into it and ran a lot of ads which were transparently designed to raise his profile. However, in a March 2014 e-mail between Murphy and Clintonista John Podesta published by Wikileaks, Murphy confessed his “VERY serious but not yet committed” gubernatorial ambitions. The problem: by law, 501(c)(4) organizations CANNOT be primarily intended as a precursor to a political campaign. Oops.
Then there’s the Murphy Family Foundation which disbursed around $1.6 million in 2015 alone to a long list of causes. Some of beneficiaries are innocuous (churches, hospitals, etc.) Most of them are the kinds of organizations with which a Democrat would want to cultivate a relationship if said Democrat was going to run for statewide office.
Here’s a very partial list of notable recipients (the IRS Form 990-PFs that exempt orgs are retuired to file are all available online for public inspection):
$125,000 to The Alliance for Climate Protection d/b/a The Climate Reality Project, Washington, DC (both founded by Al Gore)
$100,000 to the NAACP
$1,500 to the NAACP’s Teaneck branch
$5,000 to the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, an organization helmed by black liberal legislators aiming to advance far-left ideas
$500 to the Vin Gopal Civic Foundation out of Long Branch, an organization founded by and named for (which is kind of tacky, right?) former Monmouth Democrat Chairman and current LD11 State Senate candidate Vin Gopal
$500 to The Cooper Foundation out of Camden, the charitable arm of Democrat superboss George Norcross’s heath empire headed by Susan Bass Levin who, before joining Cooper, was Cherry Hill Mayor and a veteran Democrat governmental sector appointee
$100 to Fair Share Housing Development out of Mount Laurel, an organization of “activists” who help drive New Jersey’s post-Mount Laurel Decision affordable housing crisis
The NAACP is a charity? Good to know!
The point, of course, is any student or even casual observer of New Jersey politics can see that Murphy’s donations are a “who’s who” of Democrats who need a little love if you’re going to get to be their king for 4-8 years.
[Interestingly enough, as a side note, I didn’t see a SINGLE foundation donation to Planned Parenthood, the abortion-providing giant that Murphy repeatedly blasts the Christie Administration for shortchanging.]
A few of the Foundation’s choices WOULD raise eyebrows independent of partisan politics if the media bothered to look.
Notably, between 2014 and 2015, the Murphys gave $70,000 to the strangely-named “The School for Children with Hidden Intelligence”; the Lakewood branch was soon after raided by law enforcement (click here for the latest updates).
Murphy’s secret isn’t hidden intelligence; it’s expertly placed contributions – both political, non-profit and charitable – which eased his way into his current position.
If he’s elected this November?
He’ll be answerable to the people whom he’s greased.
That’s how politics works in an institutionally corrupt state like New Jersey. It’s high time taxpayers wake up to it and begin voting accordingly. Don’t ever say no one ever laid it out for you! You’d be lying… you’ve read this post to conclusion.
